PatsDraft.Com

2016
Season Blog.

Pats
Vs. Pitt.

3rd
Quarter.

By
TOM

Greetings
Pats Fans,

First
off I just want to thank all the fans of this site. I have been
promoting my books for sale primarily on this site. As a result, I
have sold almost 500 books in the past year. Thank you for your
support and patronage, both are greatly appreciated. I cannot tell
you how happy it made me when I read that report. So thank you Draft
fans and Patriot fans alike, and mostly thank you to all the fans of
my books and website worldwide.

The
Most Important Drive of the Game.

By
TOM

The
Pats essentially go three and out, with a Holding call on Solder, and are
forced to punt. "I think the
Steelers are a good defensive team and they give you some different
looks," BB said. "I thought we had our moments. There were times
when we pass blocked well. There were times where we ran the ball well and
had good blocking. We also had good running from LeGarrette and we had
some run-after-catch plays, like the screen pass by James was a good run,
but also there were two very good blocks on that play from Thuney andAndrews.

"We
had a couple of breakdowns in protection where we got called for a penalty
or didn't have time to hold the ball. There were also times that we were
able to extend the play. We made our share of plays. They made a few
against us so I think there were a lot of good things there but not
perfect; still things that we can work on and improve on like there are
every week."

1st
and 10 Steelers lined up in a 3-Wide Singleback. The Pats matched up in a
3-4 with a Chung in the box. They are playing run from start to finish on
this play. They gave the ball to Bell, and turned it into a scrum, and the
giant scrum-circle of players were pushed past the 30.

2nd
and 3, the Steelers lined up in a 3-Wide Weak shotgun. The Pats matched up
in a 3-4. They ran a reverse, and most of the defense flowed to Bell.
Brown ran all the way across the field untouched.

1st
and 10, Steelers lined up in a 4-Wide Strong shotgun. The Pats matched up
in a 3-3 Nickel with Hightower and Ninkovich on the line. Ninkovich got
dragged all the way outside, from the side, by the ORT. He Held him inside
long enough for Bell to run past him.

That
sure looked like a Hold to me. "Tough," BB said about Bell.
"He's an excellent receiver. He's got great, short-space quickness.
He breaks a lot of tackles, and makes a lot of people miss where they
really can't get their hands on him to tackle him. It seems like you hit
him and you have him stopped, but it's four or five yards later until he's
on the ground. He's one of the best backs in the league.

"To
be able to play against players not in our division is good. He's a really
good player. Between him and Brown, we tried to do as much as we could on
those two all day. They still were productive, but we put as much coverage
and as much defense on them as we could. They're hard to stop." Chung
popped Bell out of bounds after ten.

1st
and 10, the Steeler lined up in a Singleback. The Pats matched up in a 3-3
Nickel. Anthony Johnson got the best jump right off the snap. He was a
full step ahead of everyone else. But he got cut by the ORG. Then he
jumped up and dived into Bell from the side, just as Branch tossed the OC
aside and crushed Bell from the other side.

The
undermanned D-line came through again. "We played the run well
anyway, in terms of average per carry and that type of thing," BB
said. "We did pretty well with the people we had in there; it just
meant there was a little more duty for them. A.J. [Anthony Johnson] gave
us some plays in there although his role is a little bit more in the
passing game than the running game." They needed Johnson to step up,
as well as Branch and Brown, and they did. But the Steelers were still
able to kick a field goal. Pats-14. Steeler-13. Ugly Referring-4.

The
Pats lined up in a 3-Wide Singleback, with the game slipping grossly out
of their hands (uglyly isn't a word, right?). Brady handed the ball to
Blount. Andrews and Thuney won right off the snap. Andrews turned the NT
and sealed him inside. Thuney blast off into Timmons, and turned and
pushed him five yards sideways to the Strongside of the field.

Blount
slashed right through the hole that Timmons was filling when Thuney
dominated him, and went untouched for 5-yard. Tuitt grabbed him just
enough to slow him down, or he could have been running for a while. Blount
tossed him aside, but it allowed Mitchell to reach him, and three other
defenders helped him down.

1st
and 10, the Pats lined up in a Singleback. Blount ran straight downhill to
the left again. He flew behind Solder and Gronk at full speed, with
Edelman trying to block Burns 10-yards down field. Edelman knocked him
back 10-yards, and Blount took off down the sideline over midfield. He cut
back and made Burns miss at the 45. He was taken down by two defenders
five yards later.

That
was pure power blocking by the entire offence, and great downhill running
by Blount. "He gave us a couple big runs there to settle things down
where it just wasn't a pass-rush game for them all day," BB said
about Blount. "They had some good pressure early in the third quarter
and got us in some long-yardage situations with holding penalties, and
having the quarterback force the ball out quickly. His runs were able to
settle us down. I thought our offensive line along with the receivers and
the tight ends had some good blocks. We ran behind Bennett and Rob a
lot."

1st
and 10, the Pats lined up in a 3-Wide Singleback and ran Blount again, but
he looked a little pooped out. They subbed out Blount on 2nd and 9, the
Pats lined up in a 4-Wide Weak shotgun, trips-R. Brady hit Edelman
dragging outside underneath Gronk.

3rd
and 7, the Pats lined up in a 4-Wide Strong shotgun, with trips-R. White
chipped on Chickillo. Brady fired in rhythm to Gronk tearing down the
seam. "It was just a play where there was a split safety and I just
had a little bender to go right up the middle," Gronk said. "A
little seam route that bended between the split safety, and I just had a
good look. And Tom threw the ball perfectly, right on the money for me to
make the play and I just had to run, give a little move and run full
speed. Just good execution overall." Gay tried to jump on his back
inside the Five to stop him, as if.

Gronk
scored so easy that it should be a crime. "When we did get down there
that was a big plus for us," BB said. "We were able to put the
ball in the end zone three times. Then we were able to hit Rob Gronkowski
on the middle read for a big play from a little further out. The big point
is a lot of guys stepped up." That drive was really the key to the
game, even though Gostkowski missed the extra point. Pats-20. Steelers-13.
Ugly Referring-4.

It
was so important to regain control of this game, after the Steelers
dominated them for about a quarter and almost tied the game at 14-13.
"It was just good execution," BB said. "I thought we ran
the ball great on that drive. We really got the hat on hat and gave
LeGarrette Blount the space to run. He's just so deceptive with his
quickness and he's a big back, but he's got great agility.

"He
makes yards after contact and gets guys in space. He does a great job
attacking the creases there. He had a great day today. Then finally it got
to that third down with Gronkowski and he just ran through the middle of
the defense. Looks like they lost track of him for a little bit. He made a
great catch. It was a big score for us. Then we had another on the next
drive, which was good. Our execution could definitely be better. If it
was, we could have scored more points." That was the most important
drive of the game.

Gostkowski
missed the field goal, and now it is getting serious. "I certainly
get where you're coming from," BB said. "I don't think that's
the case here. I can't speak for other teams. I think Joe [Judge] is very
knowledgeable about the techniques of kicking. I know when I became a
special teams coach and coached special teams for many years as an
assistant coach and I continue to be involved with it as a head coach, but
for many years as an assistant coach that's one of the things I had to
learn.

"I
had to learn how to coach those individual specialists; the snappers, the
kickers, the punters, the returners. I don't think it's any different than
coaching any other position. Things you don't know you need to learn and
the things you do know you need to be able to teach to the players,
however you've acquired that information. And some of that certainly comes
from the players, especially when you coach good players at the position
that you're coaching.

"You
can learn a lot from them just like I learned a lot from many of the
players that I coached going back to people like Dave Jennings as a punter
or Carl Banks or Lawrence Taylor or Pepper, guys like that as linebackers
for the Giants. However you acquire that information you acquire it. You
have to be able to convey it and teach it to the players and recognize
technique or judgment. I mean look, there's a whole host of things that go
into performance but all of the things that are related to those, but you
know, be able to figure out which ones are the most important, which ones
need to be corrected and so forth, but I think Joe is very knowledgeable
in that, as was Scott O'Brien.

"I've
had a lot of experience with that myself. But that's what coaching is. If
you don't know it then you've got to find out. Nobody knows everything. I
mean no coach knows everything about every position. Maybe if a guy has
played it for a decade he might be well-versed in that position but I'd
say for the most of the rest of us that haven't done that, things you
don't know you've got to learn. You've got to find out. You've got to
figure it out." The pooch kickoffs are clearly affecting him.

It
is time to stop changing his kicking rhythm on kickoffs. "I
think they're definitely different," BB said about the two types of
kicks Gostkowski is now forced to do. "I don't think there's any
question about that. It would be like a golfer. You've got to be able to
hit a sand wedge, you've got to be able to hit a five iron, you've got to
be able to drive, you've got to be able to putt. That's what kickers and
punters do. There's plus-50 punts, there's field goals, there's kickoffs,
there's back up punts, there's punts against a heavy rush, there's punts
against a six-man box where both of the gunners are getting double teamed.

"And
just like golf there are wind conditions and not wind conditions and so
forth. It's not like they're standing out there on the driving range and
banging the ball away every time. Especially on place kicks, you're
dealing with a center and a holder and timing on the play so it's not like
you're just placing the ball down there on a tee and kicking it like you
are a golf ball or a kickoff. Yeah, they're definitely different.

"Whether
it's a punter or kicker you're talking about, they have to master
different skills, different kicks, different types of kicks, different
things that are specific to their position just like every other player
and every other athlete for the most part has to do. If you're a
basketball player you can't just shoot free throws. You've got to be able
to make some other shots, too. That's part of the position. Being able to
do the things that are required of that position, and yeah, they're not
all the same. But I don't think they're all the same for anybody."
This has to be fixed.

The
Steelers drive back down field and end of the 3rd quarter. Some guy named
Hamilton had the big plays. But they are only able to kick a field, as the
Pats D held again. Pats-20. Steeler-16. Ugly Referring-4.